A Utah teenager arrested last year in a Columbine-inspired plot to
blow up his high school was eliminated in the race Tuesday for mayor of a
small Utah city.

Results released by officials Tuesday evening
showed 18-year-old Joshua Kyler Hoggan received less than 5 percent of
the vote in the primary, preventing him from moving on as a general
election candidate on the ballot in the Roy, Utah, mayoral race.

The
current mayor, Joe Ritchie, and Councilman Willard Cragun were the top
vote-getters and move on to face-off in the Nov. 5 general election.

Joshua Kyler Hoggan, seen here at age 16, says he's rehabilitated and ready to lead the city of 37,000 people

Hoggan says he recognizes what he did was wrong but insists that he
never had any explosives or intent to bomb the school in early 2012
when he and an older classmate were arrested. He says his six months in
juvenile detention helped him deal with personal issues that plagued him
then and says that he's rehabilitated and ready to lead the city of
about 37,000 people north of Salt Lake City.

'People should trust
me because I have proven one thing: That I am human,' Hoggan said in an
email to The Associated Press. 'I have made mistakes, just like the rest
of us. We've all made mistakes in our pasts, and I am no exception.'

He
faced off in Tuesday's primary against the current mayor, Joe Ritchie,
and Councilman Willard Cragun. Most consider Hoggan a long shot to get
through the nonpartisan primary, in which voters will choose two of the
three to advance to the general election. Ritchie has been mayor for
eight years and Cragun a councilman for six years.

The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Hoggan
pleaded guilty in 2012 to possession of a weapon of mass destruction.
Police said that Hoggan, then 16, and an older classmate at Roy High
School spent months plotting an attack inspired by the 1999 Columbine
shootings. Hoggan even visited with the Columbine principal about the
shootings and security measures.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Share

Their plan included a detailed
plot, school blueprints and a plan to fly away after the bombing, said
investigators who never found a bomb.

A classmate tipped
authorities to the plot after receiving text messages from Hoggan, who
bragged that he planned to steal a plane from a nearby airport. The boy
had logged hundreds of hours on a flight simulator program to prepare.
His classmate, Dallin Morgan, pleaded guilty to criminal mischief and
was given a 105-day jail sentence.

Hoggan's plan to destroy the school was inspired by the mass-shooting at Columbine High School in 1999. where two students (pictured) killed 13 people

Ritchie, mayor since 2006, said
Hoggan has every right to be on the ballot but he questions his motives
and whether he's truly rehabilitated. He said many in Roy are still
shaken by Hoggan's bombing plan and are perplexed why he's in the race.

'I'm not so sure how sincere he is,' said Ritchie, who has never met Hoggan. 'I think he's in it for the notoriety.'

Asked if he thinks Hoggan has a chance to win, Ritchie said, 'I sure hope not.'

But
Hoggan likes his chances, predicting that he'll get through the
primary. He just completed his first semester at Weber State University
in Ogden, where he is studying political science with hopes to have a
career in the political realm.

Hoggan said he was misguided in
high school. His meeting with the Columbine principal was for research
for an article about school security for his high school newspaper, he
said. Roy High School officials knew about the meeting prior to him
traveling to Colorado, he said.

Columbine killer Eric Harris and friend Dylan Klebold planned the attack on Columbine High School for months before carrying it out

Dylan Klebold (pictured) and Harris committed suicide after killing 13 people and wounding dozens more at Columbine High School in 1999

He didn't seek out the attention
that has come with his bid for mayor, he said, but seized the
opportunity to let residents get to know him better.

'Many people
still have serious questions about me that need answered,' Hoggan wrote
in the email. 'I think that, if nothing else, the citizens of Roy City
used a valuable opportunity to have their concerns addressed.'